Lichfield housing development would ‘extinguish’ Streethay

A new development which would increase the number of houses in Streethay by more than 400 per cent will destroy the village, a Lichfield campaign group has claimed.

The newly-formed Streethay Against Development (SAD) held a meeting attended by around 70 residents last night to formulate an action plan to fight proposals to change the use of farmland in the village into a housing development containing 850 homes.

The group are facing a race against time to fight the proposal, after it reached the latter stages of the process without protest from Streethay residents.

And now the group acknowledge that they face an uphill struggle to fight off the development after it “slipped under the radar” – especially given the fact that other groups representing other areas in the region have already forced the rethink which suggest Streethay takes such a large development.

SAD spokesman Roger Manning said:

“We missed the starting gun, but we have not lost the race. Many other areas in the district have stolen a march on us and deflected the pressure onto us to take such a development.

“We now need a large, clear support from the whole village, because this development will provide no continuity in relation to what currently exists here. We must campaign relentlessly and vigorously.

“If built, this development will have its own community and own identity. Adding 850 homes in one foul swoop would extinguish Streethay – it will cease to exist as we know it.”

The site of the proposed housing in Streethay

The meeting also heard how the Streethay has been earmarked for around 34 per cent of the city’s new housing target, while a suggestion that the village could cope with the increase in traffic was also questioned by the gathered crowd.

Residents were also told how Lichfield District Council are planning to consider the Streethay area as urban rather than rural.

But the residents were warned that to gain the expertise needed to fight the proposal, the villagers will need to raise £2,000.

Mr Manning is confident the ambitious target can be achieved – and the proposal defeated. He said:

“This is achievable action and we believe that the tentacles of our campaign can spread and people will be happy to contribute once they see the impact this development would have.”